Reader, Reuter And Defense Secure Kimball Boys Win At Pine Bluffs

An ill-omen occurred before the Longhorns took to the court at Pine Bluffs on Friday night.

Big center Mike Daum tossed an empty bottle toward a garbage can barely three feet from his seat. The clear plastic container bounced off the rim and onto the floor.

Over the next 32 minutes, Kimball put the ball up 68 times from the field but converted only 26 into points—a 38 percent rate.

“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” said head coach Bruce Tjosvold.

That the Longhorns emerged from Pine Bluffs’ superheated gym with a lopsided 62-41 win owed much to the relentless play of forwards Jake Reader and Caleb Reuter. The former carried Kimball through their first half struggles, scoring 16 of his 22 points before the break. Reuter took over after that, recording 14 in the third and fourth quarters.

“I was just sprinting up and down the floor,” Reuter said. “I was getting nice feeds.”

The Hornets strutted out to a 10-4 lead in the first, Lane Nusbaum and Pine Bluffs’ outside shooters—J.C. Thurin and Brady Lamb—doing the damage. But Reuter took a pass from Austin Pile to the hoop and Reader followed with a leaner.

As time wore down in the first, Reuter and Reader both recorded put backs to keep things even.

“I was getting second shots,” Reader explained. “We were moving them around underneath.”

The Longhorns’ persistence gained them a narrow 31-30 advantage at the break. But the outcome was very much in doubt thanks to Kimball’s 3 for 19 performance from the floor, offensively, in the second quarter.

“Offense comes and goes,” Tjosvold said. “Defense is going to win it for you.”

After the halftime break, his squad shut down Pine Bluffs’ attack, allowing just 11 points the rest of the way. While the Longhorns couldn’t hit water in the first half, the home side was forced into woeful 3 for 36 shooting in the second—an embarrassing eight percent rate.

“We came back out after halftime and decided to play,” Reader said.

Daum hit a baby hook just after action resumed. Reader followed with an acrobatic effort from underneath the backboard.

Nusbaum interrupted by draining a jumper from six feet out. But Reuter countered and Reader hit on Kimball’s ensuing possession. Suddenly it was 39-32 in favor of the Longhorns.

As the third period wound down, Zach Rockhold-O’Brien went to work. He sliced into the lane for a lay up, levitated above the crowd to hit a short jumper then took advantage of a Bernie Bridge screen to hit from just outside the lane.

“I was going to post up, but he kept dribbling in,” Bridge said. The senior forward backed his defender up, giving Rockhold-O’Brien space to shoot.

Just before the quarter came to a close, Bridge netted a turn around off the glass to hand Kimball a 51-37 advantage.

“I had the ball,” Bridge pointed out. “I figured I might as well do something with it.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Reuter, who personally outscored the Hornets 10-4.

“I never thought it was easy until we were up by 20,” Tjosvold said in the aftermath, shaking his head in the humid, sweaty arena. “It’s a tough place to play.”